Sights, Sounds, Smells, Tastes, and Feels
of Peace Corps/Island life
Sights:
o
Goats on the way to school
o
Chickens/roosters/goats/sheep in my yard
o
Street dogs-they are the equivalent of squirrels
in the States
o
Concrete jungle-everything is concrete:
buildings and houses, walls around buildings, yards, the list goes on.
o
Greenery everywhere, which is contrasted by the
concrete
o
Fruit trees everywhere-I can identify most fruit
trees now
o
Uniforms-students, bank workers, nurses, govt
workers, everyone wears a uniform
o
Men peeing anywhere they feel like at anytime,
they don’t even try to hide it
o
Garbage everywhere unfortunately…
o
Brightly colored houses and cars
o
Bright and tight clothing
o
Really pretty hummingbirds that fly around the
trees in my yard
Sounds:
o
Crickets, roosters, frogs, sheep, goats
o
Terrifying roar of the rain approaching from
down in the valley
o
Pounding of the rain on the galvanized metal
roof-like golf balls landing on a car
o
Garbage truck plays a really morbid song that
sounds like creepy organ funeral music so you know its coming
o
Gas tank truck also plays a song so you know its
coming but it’s a little less creepy
o
Ice cream truck plays predominantly row row row
your boat or London bridge is falling down
o
Fish truck blows a conch shell to let you know
its approaching
o
Music music music…music from the rum shops in
valley on Fridays, music blaring from the vans. Interestingly, music genres
here follow seasons. Reggae=summer;
Soca=winter/spring, leading up to Carnival in July; Dancehall=fall/winter.
o
Barking dogs
o
Chickens at the crack of dawn (~5am)
o
Car horns: saying hi to people; letting you know
they are rounding a corner; over taking another car, etc.
o
Birds
o
People shouting my name all the time; also
people singing Valarie, Valara, ah, ah, ah. BTW they aren't actually singing my name, even though it sounds like it, but I'll take it. I think the song is fitting. :-)
o
Breadfruit dropping from the tree-sounds like a
bowling ball thudding into a carpet.
Smells:
o
Funky smells that cannot be identified nearly all
the time
o
Animal manure
o
Rotting fruits/vegetables-I seriously hate this
smell, and it seems to be very prevalent during mango/guava season in my yard,
also the fact that I compost.
o
Urine in the streets in town, or anywhere
really, but especially town
o
Smoke/roasting breadfruit
o
Perfume-everyone smells real sweet, even men
wear women’s perfume.
o
Bop-insecticide to kill those big bugs
Feels:
o
Concrete floors
o
Rigid, brittle laundry from handwashing, air drying
o
People petting, touching, feeling my skin or
hair
o
Sponge (foam, and I'm not talking about memory
foam) mattress/cushions
o
Sweaty all the time
Tastes:
o
Curry
o
Fresh fruits all year long
o
Sugar overload-in fresh fruit juice, in cakes,
in sweets, in nearly everything
o
Fried food-if it isn’t sugary, then it’s
fried. Fried chicken, fried fish, French
fries, bakes (which are actually fried dough), etc.
o
Soy chunks-my main protein source since I don’t
eat meat.
o
Pepper sauce and green seasoning.
No comments:
Post a Comment